Foundation garment



Feb. 21,1967 Q B 3,304,941

FOUNDATION GARMENT Filed July 8, 1965 //vv/v TOR. MA RIO/V M. CHI/BB) BYWaf /zwwm F H 5 l5- United States Patent 3,304,941 FOUNDATION GARMENTMarion M. Chubby, Chicago, Ill., assignor to A. Stein &

Company, Inc., Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Filed July 8,1965, Ser. No. 470,366 6 Claims. (Cl. 128528) The present inventionrelates to foundation garments and, in particular, to foundationgarments such as girdles and pantie girdles.

Foundation garments of the type which encircle the body of the wearer,e.g., girdles and pantie girdles, originally were in the form of anunstretchable fabric tightly laced around the body to rigidly confinethe body within fixed limits. Presently available garments, however,provide a positive support through the use of stretchable fabrics which,when in a stretched condition, exert a generally uniform pressure on thesurface of those portions of the body with which they are in contact. Inorder for such fabrics to be effective, however, they must be in tensionor stretch. For this reason, they are made deliberately small in size sothat they will of necessity be placed in stretch when worn.

In most foundation garments a concerted effort is made to applyadditional support for certain specific areas such as, for example, thelower abdomen. Thus, many garments include reinforcing panels of variousshapes formed of a stretchable fabric and designed to cover the lowerabdomen, it being contemplated that when the panels are in verticalstretch a lifting force will be applied to the abdomen. However, asnoted above, sections of a garment formed of a stretchable fabric canonly apply forces to the body of the wearer if they are in stretch andthe aforementioned panels, as arranged in the garments, are only placedin vertical stretch by the weight of a sagging or misshapen section ofthe body, and then only if the panel is at least partially distended.Consequently, deviation from a trim appearance is a necessaryprerequisite to even a small amount of additional containing force. Anybenefit realized, therefore, comes at the expense of the trim appearancesought to be achieved.

The principal objects of the present invention are to provide animproved foundation garment; to provide an improved foundation garmentparticularly adapted to flatten and contain specific portions of thebody, such as the abdomen; to provide an improved foundation garmentconstructed to provide positive support to certain specific areas of thebody without outward distention of the garment; and to provide animproved foundation garment which includes positive supporting sectionswhich are automatically maintained in vertical stretch when the garmentis worn irrespective of any pressures placed upon the sections by theportions of the body which they cover.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent withreference to the following description and the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a girdle showing various of thefeatures of the invention as the girdle might appear on the body of awearer which is illustrated in dotted outlines.

FIGURE 2 is a diagrammatic view of a portion of the garment of FIGURE 1showing the distributing forces on that portion when the garment isbeing worn; and

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of a pantie girdle also showing variousof the features of the invention.

Foundation garments embodying features of the present invention may takevarious forms and may be adapted for use by either men or women. Thefoundation garlCC ment illustrated in FIGURE 1 by way of example is inthe form of a womans girdle 12 which includes a generally tubular bodyportion 14 adapted to encircle the hip region of the wearer. The body 14of the girdle 12 is preferably formed of two-way stretch fabric toprovide positive support for all portions of the hip region, and isprovided adjacent its lower edge with an elastic reinforcing strip 16.

In order to render the girdle capable of providing increased positivesupport for the lower abdomen, an elongated waistband 18 is provided.The waistband 18 is formed of a fabric stretchable only in the directionof its length and is incorporated into the generally tubular bodyportion 14 with its two ends secured at the front of the garmentimmediately above the crotch. The end portions of the band are disposedside-by-side in overlying relation to the lower abdomen of the wearer soas to provide abdominal supporting sections 20. The remainder of theband, -i.e., the mid-portion 22, extends upwardly, outwardly andrearwardly from the forementioned sections in encircling relation to thewaist of the wearer. In the embodiment of FIGURE 1, the end portions orsections 20 are tapered slightly so as to extend outwardly graduallyfrom their ends. The adjacent edges of the sections are secured togetherby stitching 21.

The band 18 is preferably of a single piece construction for reasonshereinafter set forth and, in order to facilitate the upward, outwardand rearward curve of the hand, without in effect destroying its onepiece construction, the band is preferably darted, as at 24, by removingtriangularly shaped segments from its lower edge and restitching it.Darting may be accomplished at one or at several points in spacedrelation to each end of the band.

Since the band is effectively a single piece, all tension forces and,hence, all stretch created within the band are transmitted throughoutthe band in the direction of its length as shown by the arrows. Moreparticularly, tension forces and stretch created at the mid-portion 22of the band where it encircles the waist of the wearer will betransmitted to the abdominal supporting sections 20. The mid-portion 22is placed in tension (stretch) when the waist of the garment is expandedto fit the body of the wearer, as well as during breathing and otherbodily movements of the wearer. Thus, when the garment is worn, verticalstretch is created in the abdominal supporting sections 20 which tendsto impart an upward and inward pull on the abdomen of the wearer; Thesections 20 are not dependent upon distention of the body to place themin stretch but, in fact, are always in stretch when the garment is worn,thereby preventing any such distention from taking place.

The band 18 may be stitched over an otherwise complete tubular body 14so as to provide a double thickness of fabric in the area of the band,or the garment may be fabricated with the band 18 constituting onesegment of a tubular body of single thickness. Either method issatisfactory.

Although the girdle of FIGURE 1 is designed to provide uplifting andflattening forces for the lower abdomen, the same principle might beapplied to provide a lifting and flattening force for the buttocksinstead, or for both the lower abdomen and buttocks.

An alternate embodiment of the invention is illustrated in FIGURE 3 inthe form of a pantie girdle 26 fabricated of a two-way stretchablematerial to include a tubular body 28 provided with a pair of legportions 30 which define a crotch provided with a crotch piece 32 formedof satin or similar material. The lower edge of each leg is reinforcedby an elastic band 34.

The pantie girdle 26 also includes a waist band 36 which, like the waistband 18 of the embodiment of FIG- 3 URE 1, is formed of a single pieceof fabric stretchable only in the direction of its length. The band 36is incorporated into the generally tubular body 28 with its two endssecured at the front of the garment immediately above the crotch piece32 and with the end portions of the band disposed side by side inoverlying relation to the lower abdomen of the wearer to providevertically arranged abdominal supporting sections 38. The sections 38may be interconnected by stitching 39, if desired. The

remainder of the band 36 extends upwardly, outwardly and rearwardly fromthe sections 38 in encircling relation to the waist and is darted, as at40, to provide a smooth flowing curve while retaining the effectivenessof a single piece construction.

The band 36 functions in the manner of the band 18 in that stretchimparted to the band at the waist is transmitted to the abdominalsupporting sections 38, placing these sections in stretch so as tocreate an upward and inward pull on the abdomen of the wearer.

While various of the features of the invention have been shown anddescribed with respect to certain specific constructions it should beapparent that various modifications may be made therein withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. In a foundation garment of the type which includes a generallytubular body adapted to encircle the hips of the wearer, the improvementwhich comprises an elongated waist band stretchable in the direction ofits length incorporated into said body with its two ends secured in sideby side relation at the front of the garment in overlying relation tothe abdomen of the wearer to provide abdominal supporting sectionsextending upwardly toward the waist and with the remainder of said bandextending outwardly and rearwardly so as to encircle the waist, saidband being effectively a single piece so that stretch imparted to thewaist portion thereof is transmitted through the band in the directionof its length, thereby stretching said supporting sections and causingsame to impart an upward and inward pull on the abdomen of the wearer.

2. The foundation garment of claim 1 wherein the waist band comprises asingle integral piece of fabric.

3. The foundation garment of claim 2 wherein the waist band is darted toenable it to extend upwardly, outwardly and rearwardly from the front ofthe garment in a generally smooth curve.

4. The foundation garment of claim 1 wherein the waist band overlies andis secured to stretchable fabric of said tubular body to provide saidgarment with a double thickness in the areas of the band.

5. The foundation garment of claim 1 wherein said tubular body is in theform of a girdle, and wherein the two ends of said waist band extendupwardly, outwardly and rearwardly from the lower front edge of thegirdle.

6. The foundation garment of claim 1 wherein said tubular body is in theform of a pantie girdle including thigh encircling leg portions defininga crotch, and wherein the two ends of said waist band extend upwardly,outwardly and rearwardly from immediately above the crotch at the frontof the pantie girdle.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,721,325 10/1955Trudeau 128-578 2,932,298 4/1960 Chubby 128 54l 2,953,134 9/1960 Kaupp128548 ADELE M. EAGER, Primary Examiner.

1. IN A FOUNDATION GARMENT OF THE TYPE WHICH INCLUDES A GENERALLY TUBULAR BODY ADAPTED TO ENCIRCLE THE HIPS OF THE WEARER, THE IMPROVEMENT WHICH COMPRISES AN ELONGATED WAIST BAND STRETCHABLE IN THE DIRECTION OF ITS LENGTH INCORPORATED INTO SAID BODY WITH ITS TWO ENDS SECURED IN SIDE BY SIDE RELATION AT THE FRONT OF THE GARMENT IN OVERLYING RELATION TO THE ABDOMEN OF THE WEARER TO PROVIDE ABDOMINAL SUPPORTING SECTIONS EXTENDING UPWARDLY TOWARD THE WAIST AND WITH THE REMAINDER OF SAID BAND EXTENDING OUTWARDLY AND REARWARDLY SO AS TO ENCIRCLE THE WAIST, SAID 